The Browns might be entering a new era where they make sound NFL Draft decisions

The Cleveland Browns passed the test. They still surprised people, but they passed.

The Browns took Baker Mayfield with the No. 1 overall pick in Thursday night’s NFL Draft. That one wasn’t the surprise, but it did provide relief if you’re a fan of the team. For weeks, it seemed like Josh Allen might be their pick, which would have been a statistically horrible decision, backing up their statistically horrible rap sheet.

Then the Browns took Denzel Ward 4th overall — another great player. Maybe not the player everybody expected the Browns to take, and possibly a slight reach, but a really solid player nonetheless. A player you can easily justify in that spot.

The Browns are known for being bad in the NFL Draft. After all, they are the holders of the most infamous jersey in sports, a seemingly never-ending list of quarterbacks that have failed in said threads.

From Tim Couch to Johnny Manziel, the names on the list should make Browns fans sick. And their draft woes haven’t just been quarterbacks — Courtney Brown, Gerard Warren, Barkevious Mingo, and Justin Gilbert were all top 10 picks that just never worked. They also couldn’t counter that with great offseason moves, hence them being so bad for so many years.

But this year seems different. Like it might actually be the start of something new for the Browns.

You can’t question the validity of these picks.

That’s not something you could say about past editions of the Browns, especially with the big swings they’ve taken in recent years. Sashi Brown had a Sixers Process-like vision, but not the time, a la Sam Hinkie.

Trent Richardson, Brandon Weeden, Barkevious Mingo, Justin Gilbert, and Johnny Manziel were severe misses. That’s not to say that Mayfield and/or Ward won’t be busts, but on paper, these picks were smart, and they were safe.

All of the numbers say that Mayfield is worth the top pick. He has the two highest-rated college quarterback rating seasons ever. He did that while facing the hardest overall schedules of any quarterback in the draft. The biggest gripe people had against him was his attitude.

Whatever, live a little.

Then there’s Ward, cornerback out of Ohio State. He was the pick the Browns received when the Texans traded up to draft Deshaun Watson, who now looks like the Texans’ future. Assuming Watson’s incredible rookie season wasn’t a fluke, Ward will be judged against Watson for years to come.

But that’s OK — for now. In a vacuum, Ward helps the Browns a lot.

To be a cornerback from Ohio State from 2012 to 2017 meant that you were getting some of the best coaching in the country. Bradley Roby, Eli Apple, Marshon Lattimore, and Gareon Conley can all attest to that as current young, promising corners. For the NFL Draft heads who love a flashy 40-yard dash, Ward checks the box with a 4.32. He even held the Panthers’ No 24. overall pick D.J. Moore to two catches and just 11 yards. He can ball.

We can’t say yet that Mayfield and Ward are home run picks. These are still the Browns. But from everything we’ve seen, they shouldn’t be terrible, which is a hell of an improvement for the Browns.

Round 1 was a continuation of the moves they’ve made in the offseason.

The Browns are responsible for the single most fun two-hour period of the offseason, when they made three blockbuster trades as if they were grocery shopping during Drake’s “God’s Plan” video.

The first move was sending a fourth-round pick in 2018 and seventh-round pick in 2019 for Jarvis Landry, giving themselves a promising receiving corps in that includes Josh Gordon, Corey Coleman, and tight end David Njoku. Gordon and Coleman played in air raid offenses at Baylor, which could help them acclimate Mayfield’s style quickly. That’s a nice fit.

In case Mayfield needs seasoning or struggles, the Browns also got a more than serviceable quarterback in Tyrod Taylor, who has the lowest interception rate in the NFL history. Taylor can take the reins at quarterback until they feel Mayfield is ready.

Then came the swap of quarterback DeShone Kizer for Packers cornerback Damarious Randall, strengthening the defensive backfield. Randall and Ward should form a solid cornerback tandem.

No, the Browns didn’t form the Myles Garrett-Bradley Chubb pass rush duo that many dreamed of, but the secondary help should make the Browns’ defense much more balanced. These moves all makes sense, and that feels really weird.

The Browns aren’t going to win immediately. But there’s promise, and that’s new.

The Browns still have work to do. It’s hard to imagine a team that has gone 1-31 over the last two seasons immediately turning into a contender. Last month, I tried to convince my uncle in northeast Ohio that he should become hopeful — not excited, but hopeful — about the Browns because of the potential they’ve shown. He refused to let me convince him, because being a Browns fan is that difficult.

But after eventually giving up hope however many years ago, Browns fans can genuinely be optimistic again, especially after Thursday night. The Browns are making sane football decisions. That’s a nice change of pace.

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